As a contributing editor of Forbes Asia, I watch the shifting Indian economy, and the rise of its post-liberalization entrepreneurs. For over a decade, I have tracked India’s economic tumult, covering business for Time and the New York Times. I am based in Bangalore. I have a degree in journalism from Bangalore University and was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University. I blog on a changing young India for the New York Times, write a column for the Indian Express and blog for TechRepublic. You can reach me on Twitter @SarithaRai, LinkedIn or Google+

The holding company of Café Coffee Day, the home-grown café chain which is jostling with gigantic recent India market-entrant Starbucks, is headed towards an initial public offering. Highly placed sources within the group said the holding company is likely to be listed on an overseas stock exchange in the next 6-8 months. If the economy and the stock markets turn conducive within the country, the company could contemplate an India listing, they said.

The promoter V.G. Siddhartha, 54, is said to be in advanced discussions with several investment banks and is looking at a valuation upwards of $1 billion. Besides the Café Coffee Day chain, India’s largest, the holding company comprises of real estate developer Tanglin, holds 20% stake in the listed IT services firm, MindTree, as well 55% stake in Sical Logistics.

As the Mumbai stock exchange’s Sensex climbed to record levels after a decisive election victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi, several promoters have termed the environment ‘upbeat’ and talked of public offerings.

The holding company, Bangalore-based Coffee Day Resorts, will likely go through a name change and is currently ‘cleaning and preparing’ for the IPO, sources said. Private equity firm KKR & Co are among the coffee chain’s backers.

Café Coffee Day opened its first café in Bangalore’s downtown Brigade Road in 1996. Today, it is ubiquitous in India’s cities with 1,550 cafes and has been adding new locations at the rate of about 150 each year. Its 25,000 company-owned vending machines at 1,000 firms across in 350 cities dispensed a billion cups of beverages this year.

Siddhartha, 54, was born into a family of coffee planters, and has business interests extending beyond the café chain. His personal holdings include 10,000 acres of coffee plantations and interests in timber.

Funds raised through the offering will come in handy as the chain prepares to expand further and take on the might of the global giant Starbucks Corp which launched its first café in Mumbai in October 2012 through a joint venture of the Indian conglomerate, Tata. To compete, Café Coffee Day has located its newer outlets in more upscale locations in the biggest cities and refurbished its menu.

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Here’s a link to his India’s Richest page: http://www.forbes.com/profile/vg-siddhartha/ And one to your profile of him and the company in early 2011: http://www.forbes.com/global/2011/0411/entrepreneurs-siddhartha-coffee-india-tea-serving-up.html

Currently, as a layman and an independent observer, it is quite interesting to see Cafe Coffee Day in such an aggressive mode. If we compare Cafe Coffee Day and Starbucks in terms of store count, then its quite evident that CCD has an huge advantage considering its presence in tier – II and Tier – III cities. I feel, as far as CCD is concerned they should now focus on consolidation, consistency(with quality) and taking the brand to the next level. Expansion can wait. Indians and Chinese are pretty good when it comes to building products/services, but where they lack is building a world class brand. Starbucks is a global case study as far as brand building is concerned.